At one point, Wareing travelled to Dubai to meet him but was met by a sheikh who claimed he knew Lopez – and she gave him a five-figure sum.

Financial safeguards who noticed the money being sent to Dubai alerted police who tried to persuade her to stop sending the cash.

But she resorted to stealing from the company where she had worked for 20 years.

In a victim impact statement, Eastham directors John Bower and Debra Hepplestall, who replaced some of the stolen client funds from their own pocket, said Wareing started stealing while Mr Bower was in hospital following surgery to treat cancer.